Thursday, June 23, 2016

Quilting Magazine Round-Up

I splurged on three quilt magazines in Barnes & Noble recently and thought I'd do short reviews.

First, the August 2016 (issue 141) of American Patchwork & Quilting. I don't buy every issue, only those that have a project that I particularly like. I was looking for this one because I had seen a couple of photos online that intrigued me.

One of the articles, by Joanna Figueroa (of Fig Tree & Co.), is about using your own photos as inspiration for a quilt project. Her design contribution is this orange and gray quilt, inspired by a photo she took at Alhambra in Granada, Spain. I like the design; the blocks are almost 13" square.

Another of Joanna's photos inspired Just Rosy, by Laurie Simpson. A quilt with a floral applique border is on my lifetime quilts-to-make list and I like the simplicity of this design. It reminds me a bit of Mary Engelbreit designs.

My supply of Fig Tree fabric is still robust but I will eventually be down to scraps and have been looking for a scrap quilt design to keep in mind for that day. I like this one, called Stairsteps , by Jo Kramer. The magazine version is in Civil War reproduction fabric but the design lends itself to other fabric genres and I think it could work well for Fig Tree. I will need to select a color to use in place of the red, though the right red could work.

This issue of APQ also has an interesting article about Missouri Star Quilt Company, the result of a Type A woman getting a new hobby in retirement! I can't let my husband read it or he will start to worry about what I might have planned for "his" retirement.

Modern Quilts Unlimited is a new-to-me magazine. The cover design by Emily Herrick caught my eye. It is supposed to be a rose rendered in cross stitch, much magnified, but I just like the X block and may have another use for it.

A second project, Orbit Chain (by Lisa Burmann), also caught my eye.

I had resisted buying this other new-to-me publication, Our Quilting, because of the high price ($17.99), but having sighed over the cover quilt on several different trips through the store, I gave in. This magazine is published in Germany and appears to cover all aesthetic bases - art, modern, traditional, and primitive. The cover quilt, called Gloria's Flowers (by Evelyn Zuber), is similar to hexagon flowers but uses an octagon shape for the outer petals. It was constructed using English paper piecing.

After finishing La Passacaglia, I'd like to make another EPP project, though probably not immediately.

This bag also caught my eye. It sort of looks like it was made out of a table runner, but I like the look and think it could work for a laptop sleeve. Because a quilter shouldn't be using a solid black neoprene laptop sleeve; too boring!

5 comments:

Oh, I would love to get the one with the story on MSQC. It is on my bucket list to do a retreat there, Sue is interested as well and it would be fabulous if you could come. Need to sign up as soon as the schedule is posted though.

I just signed up for a subscription for American Patchwork. I love their articles and quilt patterns.

Once I saw `Our Quilting` magazine on your blog, I made a few phone calls to see if bookshops had this magazine in. Found one about 35 minutes drive away. Have asked that they keep them when they come in for me. I love `Gloria`s Flowers`,cat pillows and travel bag on the cover. Plus the articles and a few other patterns made me purchase this. Like the look of what`s next time! Thanks for showing other wise may not have looked for it. Happy Stitching.